About Us

Asaf Orr, Esq.

Transgender Youth Project Staff Attorney

Developing a passion for social justice at a young age, Asaf joined NCLR in 2012 after years of representing students with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS. As NCLR’s Transgender Youth Project Staff Attorney, Asaf works to safeguard the rights of transgender and gender-expansive youth to be affirmed and supported for who they are. By changing the life trajectories of transgender and gender-expansive youth through litigation, public policy, and advocacy, Asaf hopes to create a future where all children can thrive.

For nearly a decade, Asaf worked to advance the rights of the little “t” in LGBT. During that time, he represented transgender youth and their families in a wide range of legal matters including discrimination in schools, child custody disputes, child abuse and neglect, and access to affirming medical and mental health care. He was the lead attorney in Student v. Arcadia Unified School District, which resulted in a historic resolution acknowledging that Title IX protects transgender kids from discrimination in schools and led to transgender student guidance released by the Obama Administration in May 2016. He also worked behind the scenes to increase inclusion of transgender athletes in all levels and types of sport; expanded access to transition-related care for Medicaid recipients, including puberty-delaying medications and facial feminization surgery; and supported attorneys representing affirming parents in custody disputes around the country.

Asaf has authored a number of resources on issues affecting transgender youth. Most recently, he was a lead author of Schools in Transition: A Guide to Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools, a publication that assists parents, school administrators, and other stakeholders to collaborate and create a school environment that affirms and supports transgender students. The publication was co-authored by a number of groups, including the National Education Association, Gender Spectrum, ACLU, and HRC. After graduating magna cum laude from Rutgers School of Law in Newark in 2008, Asaf clerked for The Honorable Virginia A. Long on the Supreme Court of New Jersey.